War Paint
by I'm-A-War
Summary: Hinata was an outcast in her home. Her mother didn't agree with her life-style, and her littel sister Hanabi refused to acknowledge their Russian heritage, which is killing their mother.. One day while picking up some groceries, she is kidnapped by a mysterious red-headed stranger who drives a large semi-truck.
1. Chapter 1 Taken

Hi guys! My name's Lissie. This is my first real story, so please don't smite too badly if you find any errors! Also, English is my third language, I learned Afrikaans and Dutch first, so I may slip up on grammar and spelling. If I do, please don't hesitate to tell me so! Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

PS: I own NOTHING!. Enjoy!

I always hated my life at home. My mom and I never got along; my younger sister hated everything about me. My dad was nowhere to be found. I know, that's people a lot worse off, but to me, my life sucked. My only outlet was Katja, my mother's great great-aunt. I never met her, at least, not in person. But I've seen pictures of her, and read her numerous journals. She looked exactly like me, same hair and eyes color (from what I can tell of the black and white photos). Her face in my mirror image. Her expressions are just like mine, too. Also, her attitude towards everything is the same as mine. Sarcastic, pessimistic, moody. Reading her journals is like reading my own. I wish I could have met her in person. But she died when she was 26, on her way to work. Some bastard mugged her, and pushed her in front of a car. She died instantly. Sometimes, I "talk" to Katja. I kind of consult her on things. The same way you would talk to a close friend. And, she answers back. I know, I know, I belong in an asylum. What else is new? I'm not sure if it's really her, like her _prizrak _(ghost) or just my imagination. Or maybe I'm Katja reincarnated. I'll never really know.

The day my life changed was an ordinary, sunny day. You know, the ones that normal kids love, and go surfing in. Me? I was at a farmers market, picking up some fresh fruit. My mom and I had just gotten into a fight about my hair. This morning, I woke up, and felt the need to do something drastic. So I shaved most of it, except for my chin length, navy blue bangs. My mom almost fainted.

"In the old country, you could have been executed for looking like this." She had screamed.

On my way to the market, I had picked up some groovy looking red Buddy Holly glasses. I was the designated family freak. I can't wait for my perfect little sister to see me. I was wearing my favorite outfit, some galaxy print tights, a pair of high waisted blue-pink tie dyed shorts, and a long black tank top. I know, holy mother of hipster. I try not to be too much of a pastel hipster, I mainly just dress the part. It's the fashion I love the most, not the annoying "I hate the mainstream" and "I drink shitty beer" hipster stereotype. At the market, I got lots of stares. I know I'm sort of asking for it, but I hate it when people stare at me. I don't dress the way for attention, or shock value, I just love the fashion. I feel so trapped and plain when I wear normal clothes. I bought some pomegranates and kiwis as fast as I could. I was walking to my car when it happened. A huge semi came out of nowhere, and was headed towards me. This was weird, because I'd never seen semi trucks at the market.

_Get out of here, NOW! _cried Katja, in her thick Russian accent.

This was strange. Most of the time she spoke to me in simple Russian, something she insisted I learn. She spoke fluent English, but tried not to use it. I ran out of the way. It came to a screeching halt. A weird looking guy jumped out, and ran to me. He was dressed in dark jeans, black shirt, and leather jacket. His hair was fiery crimson, and his eyes were a weird aqua color. I thought he was making sure I was ok. _Run, Hinata, stay away from him! _Katja insisted. I turned to go to my car, but he grabbed my arm, and in a gruff voice said, "Come with me." I started to say no, but he flashed a gun at me. My voice died, and I obeyed him. I felt so disgusted with myself.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this far! I'm sorry the first two chapters were so short; I'll defiantly work on making them longer. I hope you like the story so far, if you do or don't, review, and tell my why!

ChibiCherry15: Thank you for the advice! I hope this chapter is better than the first two!

He made me jump up into the huge truck cab, which took a lot of effort, with me being 5 foot and the step being about four feet in the air. He slammed the door, and walked around to the driver's seat.

"_The door, Hina! Get OUT of here!" _Katja screamed frantically.

I tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"Damn child proof." I said, trying not to cry.

I was terrified._ "Don't make him angry, he will NOT hesitate to hurt you."_ Katja warned. He got in the driver's seat, and sped off. Ten minutes passed before I could find my voice.

"Where are you taking me?" it sounded so shaken, and weak, I could have slapped myself. "_Don't talk to him!" _Katja screamed in Russian.

_Why did he take _me_?! Wouldn't he have wanted someone normal looking, and pretty?_ I asked Katja. She didn't answer.

"You'll see." was all he said.

"What's your name?" he asked, after another ten minutes of silence.

"_Don't tell him your real name, make one up. Oksana, your name is Oksana." _Katja said quickly.

"Oksana." I could have taken that gun, and shot myself in the head. He faced me sharply, and grabbed my collar.

"Don't. Lie. To me. " He broke down the words like I was three. I was shaking, I was so damn scared. He let go.

"What's your real name?"

"Hinata." I whispered. I clutched my necklace, a silver circle a little bigger than a half dollar, with five floating alexandrite stones, a dark red, a purple, a green, a white, and a pink. All imported from the town my mom is from, Yekaterinburg. He saw me grab it, and said, "What a lovely necklace. What kind of stones are those?" I was afraid he might steal it.

"Some cheap costume jewelry. Nothing valuable." I said hastily. He chuckled, which confused me.

"Don't worry sweetie, I'm not going to steal anything. I'm just trying to start some conversation." How could he read me so easily?

"Why did you kidnap me? I don't come from a rich family; they can't give you a ransom." I blurted out, hoping it would convince him to let me go.

"It's not a ransom I want." He said. A cold feeling of dread arose in my chest.

"Then why? Why me? I'm not exactly your normal looking girl." I managed to ask. He didn't answer. I tried to call for Katja, for comfort more than advice, but she had checked out. We drove in silence for two hours before he pulled over at a rest stop. I had tried thinking of ways to escape when we stopped, but all I could think about was that damn gun. Maybe I could find a marker and paper, write "HELP ME" on it, and press it against the window. No, I'd probably get caught. And I didn't know what this guy was capable of if he caught me.

"I'm going to let you use the restroom and then we will stop and get some food. If you ask for help or try to escape, you'll wish yourself dead, got it?" I nodded, knowing that was my answer. He reached in his pocket, making sure to flash is gun at me, and handed me a roll of quarters. He walked me to the restroom, and told me I had four minutes, or he would come in and get me. I bought some much needed tampons, used the restroom, washed my hands and face, and almost ran to the door. I couldn't risk making him angry. He offered to stop at a McDonald's, but I refused as peacefully as I could.

"You have to be hungry." he said.

"I am. It's just-" I stopped, embarrassed, for some crazy reason.

"Just what?" he asked, in a strangely concerned voice.

"I'm a vegetarian." I muttered.

"You're a Rastafarian?" he asked, incredulously.

"I'm a _vegetarian." _I yelled. _Oh, God. Why did I do that?! He'll kill me now, for sure. Why didn't I just say yes, and choke down a hamburger? Please, don't kill me! _My heart was beating so fast. He chuckled. That chuckle turned into a full belly laugh.

"Please, I'm sorry. Please, don't kill me"

"Why would I kill you? It was just funny hearing such a quiet little girl yell so passionately. We can stop at a vegetarian restaurant." He turned on a GPS I hadn't noticed before, a very fancy looking one.

"Vegetarian restaurants around Sunagakure." _Sunagakure?! That's at least a few hundred miles from Konoha. How am I going to get back now?_ He stopped at a little café called _Cornucopia. _I ordered some grilled squash and a pomegranate salad.

"Wow. So you eat like this all the time?" he asked. He had ordered a Boca burger and sweet potato fries.

"Yes. I became a vegetarian when I was nine." I answered. I was still trying to reach Katja, but still, nothing. I ate as slowly as I could, just in case someone might recognize me from the news, or something. No such luck. He paid the bill, and we were on the road again. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, we were pulling into an airport.

"Why are we at an airport?" I asked, frantically.

"We're leaving the country." He said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"No, please, I'm begging you. Look, if you just leave me here, I won't tell anyone anything about you. I'll tell my mom I ran away, and you can fly away, and this will all be over." I begged. Not only was I scared of leaving with him, flying terrified me.

"I'm sorry. As great as that sounds, I have to take you with me. I promise, you'll understand soon enough." He said, walking to the back of the cab. He emerged with a bag full of clothes.

"Here, changed, and fix your make-up. You look like a mess. Also, here," he handed me a blonde wig. He turned his back.

"Could you step outside?" I asked.

"No. Nothing personal, I just don't trust you." He said, in a no nonsense voice.

I sighed, and took out the clothes he had given me. There was a pretty purple and blue striped sweater, some black leggings, and dark gray skirt. Also, there was some white cotton panties, a way too small bra, a make-up kit, and some dark purple suede boots. I got dressed, and applied some dark blue eye shadow and liner on one eye, and dark gray on the other. The only lipstick was strawberry pink, but it was better than nothing. I brushed what was left of my hair, put on the wig, and was ready to go. When the red haired man turned around, he looked shocked.

"Why the-" he motioned to his eyes.

"It's my favorite way to do make-up." I said. "Can I ask you something"

"Sure"

"What is your name?"

He paused, then said, "You can call me Gaara."


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you everyone who has read this far, and favorited! Hope you like this next chapter, sorry it's a little short :P

Gaara grabbed my arm firmly, and we walked quickly to the airport. We didn't have any luggage, but I did insist on bringing my used clothes with me. Those tights took me forever to find, and I wasn't going to leave them in some stranger's truck. From the way he reacted when I refused to leave my clothes, he wasn't going to hurt me if he didn't have to. I must be valuable to him. I have no idea why, but it's a little bit of a relief knowing he's not going to kill me anytime soon. We boarded a small plane, with no other passengers but us. I still had no idea where we were going. It was my first time flying, and I was terrified. When my ears started to pop, I nearly fainted.

"What's the matter?" Gaara asked when I slumped against the window.

"I think I'm dying." I mumbled.

"No, your ears are popping. Here, chew some gum." He handed me a piece of grape-flavored bubble gum. I felt a little funny when I started chewing, and quickly realized the candy had been drugged.

"Asshole, what did you give me?!" I cried.

"Something to make you sleep. We're in for a long trip." He said cryptically.

Whatever he had laced the gum with knocked me out too fast for me to reply. I'm pretty knowledgeable about drugs, having tried quite a few. This was unlike anything I've ever had.

I had no idea how long I had been passed out when I came to. Gaara was wide awake, reading a battered copy of _The Glass Menagerie._

"Are you craze?" I cried. My voice sounded raspy, like a 99 year old smoker. He didn't answer. I sat up, and felt like I had been asleep for days. I noticed we were on to plane anymore, we were in a first class-looking suite on a train.

"Where are we?" I demended.

"In the United States." He replied, not looking up from his book.

"Jesus Christ. How long was I out?" I exclaimed.

"About two days."

"What the hell, man? Don't do that again. Why are we in the States?"

"You'll see. In the meantime, the shower is right around the corner. There's fresh clothes in that bag over there." He said nonchalantly. I didn't reply. I got up, but my tired body wobbled and my legs failed me right away. I fell right on my ass, and hit my forehead on the sharp door handle.

"Fuck it, fuck fuck fuck-" I muttered, grabbing my throbbing head. There was a pretty big gash on the right side of my forehead. Gaara got up immediately, and picked me up.

"You alright? Damn, that looks bad." For the first time, I noticed how attractive Gaara was up close. _Fuck, girl, he's your kidnapper, and you think he's hot?_ I tried reaching Katja, but she was still long gone. That scared me more than the gash on my head. Normally, Katja was always there when I called for her, whether I was bored, needed help with homework, or really needed her advice. Now, when I needed her most, she abandoned me. It left me feeling very isolated, and small.

"Do I need stitches?" I asked, hoping he would say no.

"No," Thank you Jesus.

"I have some salve that will get rid of that." He stood up and retrieved a small suitcase from the overhead luggage compartment. _Salve? Is he some new age healer or something? This bitch needs stitches!_ I thought.

"Here we are." He held up a medium sized jar of what looked like mint jam. It was pale green with bits of leaves and shiny, silver stuff in it.

"That looks tasty." I said, jokingly. He chuckled, and opened the jar.

"What the fuck?! That smells horrible!" I exclaimed. He didn't say anything, just took a white rag, and wiped the blood off on my face. _That feels nice._ I mind-sighed. When the blood was off, he rubbed a little of the mint jelly-stuff on my cut. I expected it to feel cool, like mind, but no. It burned like a motherfucker. After an over the top performance by yours truly, the jelly literally made my cut disappear.

"How the hell did you do that?!" I asked, amazed.

"I'm a healer. I make medicines tonics for most injuries and ailments." He said, putting the medicine away.

"With what, magic?" I asked, feeling dumb for calling something so amazing "magic".

"Sort of. It's called chakra. Some people use their chakra for healing, others use it for fighting. Most don't use it at all." He explained.

"Wait, so I have chakra, too?" I was dumbfounded.

"Yes. Everyone does. Some are selected to be _Shinobi, _and are trained at a very young age to control their chakra."

"Could you teach me how to use mine?" I asked, sounding like a little kid.

"It takes several years of hard training to control you chakra. It might be easier for you, since-" he stopped suddenly.

"Why would it be easier for me?" I demended.

"No reason. You should really get ready, we will be arriving soon." He picked up his book, and began reading. I pestered him for a while, but to no avail. Clearly he had said too much.


End file.
